Amulets were ornaments believed to endow the wearer with their magical properties. Many amulets worn in life could be taken to the tomb for use in the afterlife. Funerary amulets were made to be set on the mummy to provide assistance on the journey to the Other World.
Some amulets depicted Egyptian deities and placed the wearer - dead or alive - under the protection of that god.

Other amulets could be modelled on animals whose particular qualities or behaviours the wearer may have wished to assimilate. Yet another type depicted parts of the human anatomy, e.g. a foot would endow the deceased with the power of movement. Amulets also depicted symbols of power such as the pharaoh's sceptres.

Amulets were made from a variety of materials - many from a blue- or green-glazed composition known as Egyptian faience - a ceramic composed of crushed sand or quartz with small amounts of lime and either natron or plant ash. This was coated with a vitreous-alkaline glaze, generally bright blue-green in colour due to the use of copper. Other materials used include glass, semi-precious stones (including cornelian and the prized Lapis lazuli), and less commonly bronze, gold and silver.

One of the most powerful Egyptian amulets was the "udjat eye" or the eye of Horus which was said to protect everything behind it from evil. It was widely worn by both the living and the dead.

The popular scarab, often used as a seal, symbolized rebirth. Many Egyptian amulets depicted gods, some of which follow:

Anubis:   Jackal god of the mummification.

Bastet:    The cat goddess - daughter of Re.

Bes:        Protected women in child-birth.

Horus:    Often shown as a falcon and became identified with the pharaoh.

Isis:         The protectress; typified the wifely and maternal virtues. Wife of Osiris.

Khnum:   Lord of Elephantine at the First Cataract - closely connected with the rise of
                the Nile.

Osiris:      Revered Lord of the Underworld.

Re (Ra):   The sun god - often combined with Amun as Amun-re.

Shu:         God of the air.

Thoth:       Patron of scribes; god of wisdom.

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Copyright © 1996-2006  Mark T. Rigby.